Customers First Local Hero: Babeland

Immortalized on the show Sex and the City for bringing some spring into Charlotte's notoriously prim step, this retailer specializing in, ahem, bedroom accessories, sheds taboos. Babeland reclaims adult territory from the seedy stores that dominated it for too long. This women-run company supplies its diverse customers with products that are as safe as they are pleasurable. The stores also host seminars so neophyte and experienced alike can learn new techniques. Not everyone out there is so free and open about the subject, though, which is why anything bought from their website or at the stores comes still comes in plain brown wrapping.